Woman pulled over by scrutinized trooper rejects plea deal

Prosecutor offered to drop escape charges if she pleaded guilty to DUI, a charge she denies.

By LEE WILLIAMS and SHANNON MCFARLAND

Local artist Sally Adams, who was stopped last year by a state trooper who has a history of pulling over more women than men, rejected a plea deal on Thursday offered by prosecutors.

Assistant State Attorney Shannon Hankin offered to drop the felony escape charge if Adams would plead guilty to a misdemeanor, pay a $100 fine, attend a class and perform 20 hours of community service.

Adams said she rejected the deal “on principle.”

“It's not right to try to manipulate me into taking something I don't deserve,” Adams said.

Until she encountered Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Melvin Arthur last May, Adams had never been arrested.

Arthur stopped Adams, 52, on Tamiami Trail, just south of Hillview Street, because her tag light was out.

Three hours later, Adams was charged with DUI, though her breath tested at 0.036 percent — far below the 0.08 level at which Florida drivers are considered intoxicated. She was also charged with resisting arrest, a misdemeanor, and escape — a felony punishable by 16 years in prison — because Arthur's handcuffs slipped off her wrists, she says.

Adams has said she believes she was profiled by the trooper, because of her sex.

Arthur, 24, has a reputation among some defense lawyers for stopping more women than men.

But data examined by the Herald-Tribune also raises questions about the troopers' arrest record.

According to information provided by the Florida Highway Patrol, which consisted of all traffic stops Arthur made in 2012, nearly two-thirds of the drivers he pulled over were women, as were 62 percent of those that Arthur arrested on DUI charges.

The data stands in stark contrast to arrest trends made by other officers in Sarasota County: they arrest far more men than women. Of the more than 14,000 people booked in the Sarasota County jail last year, only 25 percent were women and 75 percent were men, according to Sheriff's Office data.

The same is true for DUI arrests in Sarasota County, where about two-thirds as many men were arrested on drunken driving charges last year.

As of Thursday, the FHP has failed to fully comply with a public records request from the Herald-Tribune seeking Arthur's arrest data for 2010 and 2011.

FHP hired Arthur, who is paid $33,977 and works out of the FHP's Venice District, in 2009.

FHP officials said they do not see any need to examine the apparent statistical anomaly surrounding Arthur's arrests.

“We have not initiated an internal investigation on Trooper Arthur,” FHP's chief spokeswoman Capt. Nancy Rasmussen said Tuesday in an email.

The arrest

Arthur stopped Adams on May 5, 2012 for a tag light violation while they both were driving southbound on Tamiami Trail in Sarasota.

A video recording shows the trooper first tried to help Adams replace the bulb in her tag light, but the screws holding the light assembly were locked tight.

He then put her through a series of field sobriety exercises, which his report indicates she failed. Arthur arrested her, handcuffed her and placed her in the back of his car, ordering a tow truck for her car.

The video of Adams in the back seat shows that the handcuffs slipped off the 105-pound woman's wrists, but Adams kept her hands behind her back.

Adams said she became concerned about the tow bill, and asked to talk to the driver. When the trooper opened the back door to place a seatbelt on Adams, she pivoted, stepped out of the car, and walked past the trooper.

Adams said she was perplexed about what to do with the handcuffs, which she was holding, so she placed them at the trooper's feet and turned to talk to the tow truck driver.

But Arthur reported that Adams began running, toward the front of his car.

The events that followed were not captured on the recording, but the trooper can be heard screaming, calling for backup and yelling at Adams to “stop resisting.”

Arthur reported that he performed a “leg sweep,” knocking Adams to the ground. He then lay on top of her and pinned her to the ground until his backup arrived.

Adams denies trying to run.

The hearing

Adams appeared in court Thursday for a motions hearing. Her attorney, Andrea Mogensen, had filed a motion to dismiss the case.

Prosecutors have said there are two ways to prove DUI in court: a breath test, which Adams passed, or by her behavior, which can also indicate impairment.

During the court hearing Thursday, the judge denied the motion to dismiss the case, upholding Arthur's assessment that there was probable cause for the arrest. That clears that way for the case to move before a jury within the next two weeks, with the trial to be scheduled Friday.

“She said she'd had two glasses of wine,” Arthur said, responding to a question from a prosecutor during the hearing. “Twice, I had to tell her to keep her head still when her eyes followed the stimulus. Then she held up her hands on her head.”

Prosecutors say they are not arguing that Adams was stumbling drunk, but maintained that the standard roadside sobriety tests indicated she was impaired, at least enough to sustain an arrest.

Yet Mogensen pointed out that there was no erratic driving, speeding or other traffic infractions. Adams was not stumbling and her speech was not slurred, Mogensen said. Still, she was not surprised by the judge's decision, because the criteria for an arrest is not hard to prove. Proving to a jury that she was drunk will be more difficult for the prosecutors, she said.

“They won't be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt,” Mogensen said.

Adams is confident the video will show the jury she was not impaired.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.